After record flooding in Lake Ontario, water level is now falling too fast

Syracuse, N.Y. – Some boaters couldn’t launch their vessels in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River this summer because of record-high water levels, but now some boats could be stranded because water levels are dropping too fast.

The agency that controls the lake and river levels announced it will raise the level of the St. Lawrence river just upstream of the dam at Cornwall by more than 2 feet so boats can be removed before winter.

“Due to the declining Lake Ontario level combined with extraordinarily high outflows still being released through Moses-Saunders Dam, the forebay upstream of the dam has seen a significant sustained drop in water levels,” the International Lake Ontario - St. Lawrence River Board said in a news release.

The drop in the level of the forebay, also known as Lake St. Lawrence, has made it “extremely challenging to haul out boats that would normally be removed at this time of year under more-normal flow conditions,” the board said.

On Oct. 12 and 13, the board will reduce the outflow from the lake by about 35,000 cubic feet per second. That’s about a 10% reduction from the current flow and slightly more than the outflow a year ago.

The 48-hour reduction will raise Lake St. Lawrence by about 26 inches to “allow marinas and shoreline property owners with docks a one-time opportunity to access their boats to haul-out for the season,” the board said.

About 700 marina and boat club slips line the shore of Lake St. Lawrence, the board said, and leaving water levels low would doom many boats to be damaged by ice. The lake is about 100 square miles.

Reducing the outflow by 35,000 feet per second will keep Lake Ontario about a half-inch higher, the board said. Additional water will be released in the fall to compensate for the reduction in October, the board said.

The board said it will keep reducing outflows as the lake level drops because the high flows cause erosion and unsafe currents.

This is the second time in three years Lake Ontario has seen record levels and extensive shoreline flooding. Some residents blame the new regulation plan that went into effect in January 2017, but the board and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers point to record rainfall across the Great Lakes as the major cause of flooding.